Various devices for sealing the hasps or staples of locks or latches which secure cargo containers comprise an elongated, flexible sealing wire and a metal or thermoplastic seal. The wire is passed through the hasp or staple and then its ends are retained by the seal which is crimped or deformed to prevent removal of the wire ends. Since the presence of the wire prevents operation of the hasp or staple, unauthorized entry into the container entails destroying the seal or the wire creating visual evidence of the unauthorized entry.
Examples of prior art seals may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 421,951, 1,826,033 and 1,911,060.
U.S. Pat. No. 421,951 discloses a rotatable seal lock wherein a strip seal is inserted within a rotatable member. Thereafter the member is rotated causing a dog to be received within an opening in the strip and pulled within the rotatable member to a retained position. The rotatable member is held against unlocking rotation by the use of a spring-loaded pawl.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,826,033 discloses a block with a sealing chamber with transverse holes. A roller is in the chamber and has a cross-partition for temporary engagement with a winding means inserted through the chamber. The winding means has holes to receive a sealing band.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,911,060 discloses a sealing device having a body with apertures through which-a flexible sealing means can extend. The center portion of the body is provided with a threaded bore which is intersected by the apertures. Disposed within the threaded bore is a uni-rotational screw which may be tightened down against the flexible securing means to retain it in a sealed position.
The aforementioned, commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,978,026, 5,180,200 and 5,419,599 provide a seal for securing a container and provide evidence of tampering as well as being economical to manufacture. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,200 seal, a rotatable rotor is insertable in a chamber in a thermoplastic housing. The housing wall contains bores aligned across the chamber. The housing wall further has two annular grooves adjacent the chamber entrance. The rotor has a bore and two annular ridges, curved in transverse section complementary to the grooves, near its top. The rotor is partially inserted in the housing by snapping the lower ridge into the upper groove of the chamber and locating the tabs on the housing in relieved areas to align the bores so that a seal wire may be inserted through the aligned bores. With a seal wire inserted, the rotor and housing are relatively rotated to wrap the wire about the rotor. The rotor is then fully axially inserted into the housing so that each ridge snaps into a groove. This and engagement of teeth on the bottom of the rotor which mate with teeth at the chamber base prevent removal of the rotor from the housing, relative rotor-housing rotation, and removal of the wire from the seal.
However, the rotor is only partially inserted when it receives a sealing wire after which the rotor is rotated and then fully inserted. The rotation of the rotor to wrap the wire thereabout and fully insert the rotor into the chamber requires a special tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,599 ('599) discloses a seal similar to that in U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,200 except a ratchet and pawl mechanism permit relative rotation of the rotor to the housing in only one direction when the rotor is fully inserted. Also, a screw driver can rotate the seal without a special tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,958 discloses a seal with a ratchet and pawl mechanism similar to that in the '599 patent. Like that seal, this patent seal requires a screw driver or similar tool to rotate the seal rotor to wrap the wire about the rotor and lock the seal. Also, like the other patents discussed above, mating curved in transverse section ridges and grooves axially lock the rotor in the housing chamber. These grooves and ridges, however, have arcuate surfaces which may be defeatable by tampering.
The present inventors recognize a need for a seal similar to the one disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,419,599, 5,402,958 and so on, but wherein the wire filament can be wrapped about the rotor without tools. In addition, the present inventors recognize a need to secure one end of the filament to the seal at the factory. The '599 and related patents can not do that. If the filament has only one end wrapped about the rotor, the wrapped filament will block the other openings in the seal that are coplanar therewith and preclude insertion of the filament other end by the end user. The '958 patent does not have this problem as its openings are provided in different planes. But this device requires a tool to operate.
A seal according to the present invention for use with a flexible filament for non-removable attachment of the filament to an article comprises a housing defining a chamber having an axis, an opening through the housing in communication with the chamber and lying in a plane transverse the axis, the opening being sufficiently large for receiving therethrough first and second portions of the filament in side-by-side communicating relation in the plane.
A rotor is in the chamber and has at least one bore and is rotatable about the axis, the at least one bore in the rotor being aligned with the opening in the plane for receiving the filament.
One way motion means are in the chamber for permitting the rotor to be relatively rotated with respect to the housing in only one direction about the axis for wrapping the filament received in the at least one bore and in the opening about the rotor to secure the filament to the rotor and housing.
The opening in one aspect comprises a slot extending transverse the axis.
The slot may comprise first and second bores in spaced relation and a slot portion intersecting each of the first and second bores, the at least one bore comprising adjacent spaced third and fourth bores lying in the plane, the third bore being aligned with the first bore and the fourth bore being aligned with the second bore.
The housing in a further aspect has fifth and sixth bores, the first and third bores being aligned with the fifth bore and the second and fourth bores being aligned with the sixth bore in the plane.
In a further aspect, the housing has a pair of lips in the chamber on opposing housing walls, each lip having coplanar first surfaces normal to the axis, the rotor having a shoulder having a second surface normal to the axis and complementary to and for engaging each of the lips for axially locking the rotor to the housing.
The rotor and housing in a further aspect define an annular channel therebetween in the plane, the channel for receiving multiple wrappings of the filament about the rotor.
The channel preferably may have a cross sectional area of at least quadruple the cross sectional area of the filament.
The one way motion means may comprise complementary ratchet and pawl means secured to the rotor and to the housing in the chamber.
The housing and the rotor preferably have further complementary surface features for axially retaining the rotor to the housing.
In a further aspect, means radially extend from the housing to provide a finger grip, and a finger gripping flange extends from the rotor for manually rotating the rotor in the chamber without tools.
The lip is linear in a further aspect and has a surface that extends through opposing through-bores in the housing.
In a still further aspect including the filament having opposite first and second ends, the filament comprises a cylindrical flexible elongated member, the first end terminating in one of the third and fourth bores and wrapped about the rotor one half a revolution in the chamber, the filament passing through the opening with its second end external the housing.